Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry's New Boggart – Chapter 6

The Bond

As the mantelpiece opened, a greenish vapor began to seep out of the opening, concealing whatever was inside, and filling Harry's lungs. He began to feel repulsed by the scent, light-headed due to the lack of oxygen, and nauseous, at the same time. He then found his eyelids becoming heavy, and started to close them. The last thing he heard before falling to the floor was Hermione's voice saying something.

Hermione put her wand back into her holster after clearing the air while Ginny rushed to her fallen boyfriend. Tears were already falling down her cheeks. She pulled off his helmet, revealing that Harry's complexion was turning more and more pale as panic began to consume the redhead. Ron was no better off than Ginny, but Hermione rushed to Harry's body, gently moving Ginny out of the way. After seeing that he wasn't breathing, she immediately began performing mouth to mouth resuscitation on her best friend. The Weasley siblings watched in confusion as Hermione put her lips on Harry's. After about ten seconds which seemed like an eternity, Harry began to cough as his eyes opened. Hermione stepped back and Ginny immediately rushed forward and hugged him.

Ron asked, "Hermione, why were you kissing Harry?"

"Honestly, Ronald," sighed Hermione, "I wasn't kissing him, I was performing mouth to mouth resuscitation on him!"

"What?" asked both Ginny and Ron together.

"It's part of muggle emergency medical care. If someone can't breathe for themselves, you breathe into them before it's too late. Surely the wizarding world has an equivalent."

"No, we don't," replied Ginny, still crying. "If someone stops breathing, they're dead. If you hadn't been here…"

"But I was here. The important thing though is Harry," she said, turning back to him. "How do you feel?"

"Ill. And sleepy. I should probably get up." He then pushed his upper body up with his arms, but found he had another problem. "I CAN'T MOVE MY LEGS!"

"Can you feel them?" asked Hermione, with a terrified expression on her face.

"Yes; they just hurt! Can you pull off my shoes? They're killing me!" he asked as he passed out.

After making sure he was still breathing and checking his weak pulse, Hermione pulled off his right shoe and sock, while Ginny did the same for his left. They both revealed his bare feet at the same time and let out a gasp together. His feet and ankles were dark green.

"This is some kind of poison!" screamed Hermione. "We've got to see how far it's spread! Help me pull off his pants!"

"You can't do that!" shouted Ron. "You're girls!"

Ginny screamed, "We don't have time for this, Ron," as she and Hermione unfastened Harry's pants and pulled them down, revealing Harry's boxer shorts, along with the fact that the poison had already spread past his knees and was moving fast up toward his thighs.

Hermione tried a few spells to no affect and cried, "We don't know what that poison is, and he'll die before we find out!"

Ginny screamed, "NO! He can't die! I won't let him!" as she pulled him into a tight embrace, tears streaming down her face.

Both Ron and Hermione's jaws dropped as they saw a faint white glow envelop Ginny's body, and then move into Harry's from her arms that were embracing him. The glow spread both upward into his face, and down his torso into his legs. As the glow reached the poison, it seemed to recede back down Harry's legs to his feet, and, eventually disappeared.

Ginny momentarily collapsed onto Harry, as he woke up with a start, saying, "What happened?"

Ginny stuck her smiling face up toward her boyfriend. "You, you're awake! Thank God! I thought you were dead!"

"Ginny?" asked Hermione. "Do you know what just happened?"

"Er, Harry woke up?" asked Ginny, unsure what Hermione meant.

"Something strange happened, to both of you. You were glowing," explained Hermione while Ron nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean, glowing?" asked Harry.

After Ron and Hermione did their best to describe what they saw, Hermione stated, "I'll bet this has something to do with your bond."

"You mean what Tom mentioned to Snape?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "I asked Dumbledore's portrait about it, and he said he'd like to talk to both of us about it."

"All right," replied Ginny.

"In the mean time," said Harry. "After I put my pants back on, I'd like to find out what I was almost killed for."

They both were struggling to get off the floor, so Ron helped Harry while Hermione helped Ginny, eventually setting them down on the couch.

Ron suggested, "Harry, give me your safety equipment. I'm gonna find out what's in that compartment."

"You should also use the bubblehead charm so you don't breathe any poison," insisted Hermione.

"That reminds me," asked Harry. "Why didn't anyone put a bezoar in my throat?"

"Because they're for poisons that have been ingested, not inhaled," answered Hermione.

After Ron had put on the 'safety suit,' he and Hermione returned to the open secret compartment, and saw a cup that they immediately recognized from the pensieve as Hufflepuff's. Hermione walked up to it and performed the spell she'd learned the day before, eventually telling everyone, "It definitely has a horcrux. Riddle must have snuck it in here the day he asked Dumbledore for a job. Sneaking into this room wouldn't have been much of a problem for him once he'd been allowed into the castle."

Ron then stepped up toward the cup while Hermione backed up. As he slowly moved his hand toward the cup, he could hear his girlfriend warn him to, "Be careful."

As his hand went into the compartment and slowly inched toward the cup, it was feeling hotter and hotter. He was glad he was wearing the dragonhide gloves. He knew if it weren't for them, his hand would be badly burned. As it was, his hand was getting irritated by the heat. As his hand touched the cup, it got a lot hotter. He screamed from the pain, quickly pushed the cup onto the floor, and pulled his hand out. Hermione ran to him and yanked off his glove, revealing that his right hand was slightly pink and burned. She performed a cooling spell on his hand, much to Ron's relief, and found that his hand only had minor burns. They also found that they needed a new pair of gloves. After careful experimentation, they found that the cup was no longer hot now that it was outside of its hiding spot. They closed up the mantle piece and headed toward the hospital wing to have everyone besides Hermione examined.

Madam Pomfrey, who had decided to stay at the castle with most of the staff, treated Ron's burns easily, and said that as far as she could tell, Harry and Ginny were merely exhausted. She found no trace of any kind of poison in Harry. Because of the exhaustion, however, she insisted on giving them both a weak sleeping potion. After they'd rested for a few hours, they both woke up to find Ron and Hermione sitting near their hospital beds, snogging.

"Hey guys," greeted Ginny, causing the couple to break apart quickly. "How about we go back to the common room and destroy that cup?" They all agreed, so after they got into the common room, Harry put on his equipment, including a spare pair of dragonhide gloves, and a bubblehead charm, and stabbed the cup with a basilisk fang, achieving the same results as with the locket. After Hermione had confirmed the Horcrux destroyed, Harry and Ginny went to McGonagall's office to speak to Dumbledore's portrait.

"Hello, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger," said McGonagall, after she'd let them in her office.

"Hello," they both responded.

"Were you successful in your endeavor today? Madame Pomfrey informed me that there were minor injuries."

"Yes, we were successful. We found a secret compartment in the common room that was booby trapped, but we found what we were looking for in it," explained Harry.

"Thank you for allowing us inside," added Ginny.

"You're welcome. I suppose you'll want to speak to Professor Dumbledore in private again?"

"Er, well, yes," replied Harry. "I hope you don't feel, er…"

"I understand that in wartime there are secrets," said McGonagall. "I may feel a little put out sometimes, but I'm a big girl and can handle it," she explained with a smirk as she walked outside. Harry put the charms on the door that Hermione had taught him.

"You were successful?" asked Dumbledore's portrait. They both nodded. "I take it then that another Horcrux has been destroyed."

"Yes sir," answered Ginny.

"It was Hufflepuff's cup," added Harry.

"Well done," praised Dumbledore. "Now there are only two left to find, and we're not sure what they are."

"I thought you said that Nagini was one," countered Harry.

"No, I did not say that," corrected Dumbledore. "I suspect it. I believe it would be prudent to make sure that Tom's snake really is a Horcrux before facing him. Perhaps if you find out where his headquarters are, you should find out if Nagini freely wanders around the area. Though for now I believe you should be investigating the possible hiding places for them."

"I was also wondering, sir," asked Harry. "Do you think my scar could be a Horcrux?"

Dumbledore looked appraisingly at Harry. "I've thought about that myself, and certainly think that it couldn't hurt to have Miss Granger test you, but I doubt it. In order to create a Horcrux, you have to be doing it on purpose. I believe that what happened to you was entirely an accident, which resulted from his attempt to kill you. Also, the fact that he tried to kill you leads me to believe that he didn't put a Horcrux inside you."

"No one was there to see that he'd performed the killing curse on me. What if he'd made me a Horcrux and it caused him to be weakened?"

"Like I said, Harry," answered Dumbledore. "It won't hurt to be tested, but I will be surprised if it is one." He then looked at both Harry and Ginny. "I take it you've come here together to discuss your bond."

"Sir," said Ginny. "I think that before you begin, we should tell you something that happened while we were retrieving Hufflepuff's cup."

"Oh," asked Dumbledore, "What happened?"

They then told the portrait about how Harry had been poisoned and Ginny had been able to somehow heal him."

"That is indeed very interesting!" exclaimed the portrait. "Miss Weasley, can you remember exactly what you were thinking the moment you embraced Harry?"

"Er," she replied, beginning to blush. "Well, sir, I was, er, thinking about how much I love Harry, and refused to let anything, even death, take him from me." Harry squeezed her hand.

"As I suspected," responded Dumbledore, with a twinkle in his eyes. "When Harry saved your life, in the Chamber of Secrets, a life-bond was forged between the two of you. When you fell in love, that bond was strengthened. Today, when Harry was dying, you claimed him, and, because of your bond, your claim was stronger than the poison's claim. I suspect that Harry could do the same thing for you, but let us hope he doesn't get the chance any time soon."

"Let's hope," smirked Ginny.

"Professor," asked Harry. "Does that mean that we can't die? That we're immortal."

"No, you're not immortal. First of all, you would have to rescue the other before death occurred. As you know, there are many ways to die instantly, with no time for healing. I myself was killed using such a method. Secondly, we do not know the limitations of your healing abilities, and there is no safe way to test them. Contrary to popular opinion, this is actually a rare bond. It is very seldom that someone actually falls in love with their rescuer. Infatuation occurs often enough as a result of the experience, but usually nothing more. And even then, it is rare for the couple to have the opportunity to heal one another. I suggest that you act just as cautiously as you would if you were unaware of your bond, but stick together just in case one of you is needed to heal the other."

"That actually makes sense," said Ginny. "The crush I had on Harry had to disappear before I could spend time with him so we could get to know one another. That had to happen before he developed any feelings for me, and before I could love the person that he truly is."

"I believe that we should conclude our meeting for now," suggested Dumbledore's portrait. "If I'm not mistaken, both Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are anxiously waiting for an explanation of what happened."

"Either that or snogging each other's face off in the common room," replied Ginny.

Chapter end